Killing a Nation with Kindness to Another

[Quickening]

I chose to play the short campaign rather than the long one as the English (I made the right choice, it's long enough). Anyway I have to wipe out the French and after days and days of constant battle Im making little or no progress against them so I devised an evil plan. If I take a French region and doubt my ability to hold it, I simply give it to the Papal States. Improves my standing with them and means the French are highly unlikely to ever take it back. Bwahahaha...

So far this seems to be working a charm. They are down to three provinces now and they cannot retake my heavily defended regions and dare not attack those belonging to the Papal States

So... what do you all think of my plan and how far do you think it could be taken when trying to exterminate a race?

[FrauGloer]

I like it.

I've actually done it before. Venice had been excommed and I wanted to weaken them (I was England) as well as get a few good traits and try for an order house, so I started a crusade to Venice. I took it without much trouble but holding on to it didn't seem a good idea with too many greedy factions around it, so I gifted it to the pope after destroying most of the buildings for cash . Venice now is pretty much out of the game!

The problem I see in your version, though, is that once you have wiped out the french, you'll want to have those provinces for yourself, and I doubt the pope will give 'em back easily.

[Doug-Thompson]

It's obviously working, assuming that you don't want to take those Papal provinces someday.

[Quickening]

The problem I see in your version, though, is that once you have wiped out the french, you'll want to have those provinces for yourself, and I doubt the pope will give 'em back easily.

Ah sorry I forgot to add, I have my eye on Denmark. Long have the Danes haunted my trade routes. It is their lands I intend to own. I don't want France, I just want the French dead

[Lord Condormanius]

I am also playing the short campaign as the English (0.50 timescale). I have given two regions to the Pope thus far. One was Rhodes, which I sacked on the way back from a Crusade, after I felt I was too far away to manage it effectively. The other was Antioch, after a sucessful crusade, for the same region.

One thing to remember. Before giving the region away, tear down all the buildings, except the Church. This was you can collect the money for them and the faction you are giving it to has to spend its own resources building the region back up.

[Wizzie]

Playing as Venice, I started a very early war with Milan to kick them out of North Italia. They proved to be pretty stubborn though, partially helped by their Sicilian allies who were hounding at my southern borders. I eventually kicked them back over the Alps (they had taken Dijon and Bern). I wanted to concentrate on a lengthy campaign against the Byzantine Empire though and didn't want to have to leave stacks of units in Italy to fend off any would-be re-invasions by Milan, and nor did I want to follow them across the Alps and expose my self to French and German aggression. So I simply pranced acrossed the alps, sacked Bern and then gifted it to the Pope. So now I have all the passes in the Alps sealed off with forts, and a papal "buffer" state between myself and my vengeful and warlike neighbours
Works pretty well, it's always a handy strategy if one of your neighbours is getting unduly aggressive but you don't want to/can't handle an all-out-war with them. Steal their territories on their border, and then gift them to the pope to create a buffer.

[Rameusb5]

I must say this is pretty ingenious. In my previous campaign, which I abandoned, both the HRE and Genoans were being a real pain in the butt attacking me for no reason (I wasn't ready to assault my neighbors just yet).

With this tactic, you can jump into their nearest province, sack it, and then give it to the pope.

Even better, give it back to THEM and then sue for peace! LOL.

[buckZor]

Rameusb5 - What do you mean by "sue for peace"?

[Lord Condormanius]

It basically means negotiate for peace.

[IRONxMortlock]

I don't want France, I just want the French dead

Indeed.

Good idea, I'll definitely give this a try.

[Joshwa]

As the Byzantines, I often give Sofia and Ragusa to the Pope as a nice little buffer between me and the Venetians and the Hungarians!

[Molinaargh]

You'll still need 10 or 15 provinces to finish the short campaign. Those French provinces are close to your capital/troop production center and easier to defend than if you try to take some in the Iberian peninsula or from the Holy Roman Empire (as you won't have many "flanks").

I'd say it's better to take and defend them, not saying that gifting them to the Pope isn't a fun strategy.